Inflatable self-sealing toy

ABSTRACT

A toy including an opening portion, a wall portion connected to the opening portion, an inner chamber adjacent to the wall portion, at least one object disposed within the inner chamber, and an outer wall portion forming the inner chamber. The wall portion is self-sealing. The inner chamber is expandable and the outer wall portion is stretchable.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The embodiments relate to inflatable toys, and more particularly toinflatable toys with a self-sealing portion.

2. Description of the Related Art

There are many inflatable toys on the market today that typicallyinclude an opening for air to enter (e.g., a person blows/forces airinto the opening) and a fitting that is inserted into the opening toprevent air from leaking out of the toy. Other toys exist where air isforced from one portion of the toy to another to cause the other portionto have an entertainment effect, such as squeezing a body and forcingair to make eyes seem to pop out. While the aforementioned toys areentertaining, there is always room in the market for new toys.

SUMMARY

One embodiment includes a toy including an opening portion, a wallportion connected to the opening portion, an inner chamber connected tothe wall portion, at least one object disposed within the inner chamber,and an outer portion surrounding the inner chamber. The wall portion isself-sealing. The inner chamber is expandable and the outer portion isstretchable.

Another embodiment includes an inflatable toy including a body having aninner chamber, a wall portion having one side within the inner chamberand another side outside of the inner chamber, and at least one objectdisposed within the inner chamber. Air introduced into the inner chamberthrough a temporary hole made in the wall portion by a tool. The Air isretained when the tool is removed from the wall portion, as the wallself-seals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments discussed herein generally relate to inflatableself-sealing toys. Referring to the figures, exemplary embodiments willnow be described. The exemplary embodiments are provided to illustratethe embodiments and should not be construed as limiting the scope of theembodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment including a toy with a self-sealingwall portion in a normal/deflated state.

FIG. 2 illustrates the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 in aninflated/expanded state.

FIG. 3 illustrates the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 illustrating ameans for forcing air into an inner chamber.

FIG. 4 illustrates an inner view of air being forced into an embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment in a normal/deflated state.

FIG. 6 illustrates the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5 in aninflated/expanded state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to inflatable self-sealing toys.Referring to the figures, exemplary embodiments of the invention willnow be described. The exemplary embodiments are provided to illustratethe invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of theinvention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of an inflatable toy 100. Toy 100 isillustrated as a frog shaped toy, but one should note that otherembodiments have different shapes and sizes, such as other amphibians,mammals, people, automobiles, robots, dinosaurs, birds, fish,motorcycles, balls, houses, cakes, etc. In one embodiment toy 100 ismade of an elastic material, such as rubber, elastomer, etc.

In one embodiment toy 100 includes an outer wall portion and an innerwall portion with a chamber portion separating the inner and outer wallportions. In one embodiment the chamber portion (see FIG. 4, 325) isfilled with expanded polystyrene (EPS) beads (see FIG. 4, 320), whichgive toy 100 support between the inner and outer wall portions and alsoeffects the feel of toy 100 when squeezed. In another embodiment, othertypes of beads, such as styrofoam, etc. can be used as filler. Othertoys or balls can also be placed inside the chamber portion (e.g.,plastic stars, spiders, etc.). In yet another embodiment toy 100 has anouter wall that varies in thickness around toy 100. In this embodiment,the variation in thickness of the outer wall contributes to varyingstretchability of the outer wall.

FIG. 2 illustrates toy 100 in an inflated state. As illustrated, air isforced into toy 100 through a self-sealing wall portion (see FIG. 4,310). As illustrated, only a portion of toy 100 inflates when air isforced into the inner chamber. In this embodiment, due to the variationof thickness of the outer wall of toy 100, the portion that is thinnerstretches out before the thicker portion. In this embodiment, theaddition of air to the chamber portion can have varying effect on theinflated shape of toy 100. This leads to entertaining distortions of toy100. In one embodiment, the amount of air added into the inner chambercan vary causing the size of the inflated toy 100 to also vary. In oneembodiment, appendages of toy 100 (e.g., legs, arms, head, tail, etc.)and an opening (see FIG. 3, 304) retain their original shape when toy100 is inflated. In another embodiment, one or more of these appendagesis part of chamber portion 325 and expand when air is forced intochamber portion 325 through self-sealing wall portion 310.

FIG. 3 illustrates one means of forcing air into toy 100. In thisembodiment, a tool, such as hand pump 305, having inflation needle 306is inserted into toy 100 through self-sealing wall portion 310. In thisembodiment, self-sealing wall portion 310 has a thickness that allowsfor inflation needle 306 to enter/exit and self-seal around thethrough-hole formed from inflation needle 306 to retain air. Thethickness of self-sealing wall portion 310 can vary in differentembodiments, e.g., ¼ inch, ½ inch, ¾ inch, 1 inch, 2 inch, etc. In oneembodiment, self-sealing wall 310 is made of the same material as theinner and outer wall portions. It should be noted that while hand pump305 is illustrated to force air into chamber portion 325, other meanscan be used, such as a compressor, CO₂ cartridges, helium tank, etc. Inanother embodiment toy 100 incorporates a finger type of pump thatinflates when the finger pump is repeatedly pressed. In this embodiment,a release valve is used to allow forced air to be released from chamberportion 325. In one embodiment, opening 304 is the mouth of the frogshaped (or any other living shaped toy 100) toy 100.

FIG. 4 illustrates inflation needle 306 entering opening portion 304 andpiercing through self-sealing wall portion 310. In this embodiment theforced air expands chamber portion 325 and allows beads 320 to have moreroom to move in chamber 325 when toy 100 is handled. An inflated toy 100can release the forced air by inserting a needle, such as inflationneedle 306 into self-sealing wall portion 310 without air forcing means(e.g., hand-pump 305). The needle pierces through self-sealing wallportion so that air travels from chamber portion 325 through the needleand out of toy 100. The self-sealing wall 310 can be designed to bepierced many times (e.g., 100, 200, 500, etc.) before losing itsself-sealing ability.

FIG. 5 illustrates toy 500 for an example of another shape for toy 100.In this embodiment, toy 500 is illustrated in a normal or deflatedstate. As illustrated, toy 500 has a reptile shape. FIG. 6 illustratestoy 500 in an inflated state where air is forced into chamber portion325.

With the self-sealing wall portion (e.g., self-sealing wall 310), toyembodiments (e.g., toy 100, 500, etc.) provide many inflation/deflationcycles. Since varies amount of air can be forced into theabove-mentioned embodiments, many different shapes and sizes arepossible, which leads to less boredom and different types of play.

Reference in the specification to “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,”“some embodiments,” or “other embodiments” means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but notnecessarily all embodiments. The various appearances of “an embodiment,”“one embodiment,” or “some embodiments” are not necessarily allreferring to the same embodiments. If the specification states acomponent, feature, structure, or characteristic “may”, “might”, or“could” be included, that particular component, feature, structure, orcharacteristic is not required to be included. If the specification orclaim refers to “a” or “an” element, that does not mean there is onlyone of the element. If the specification or claims refer to “anadditional” element, that does not preclude there being more than one ofthe additional element.

While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in theaccompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments aremerely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, andthat this invention not be limited to the specific constructions andarrangements shown and described, since various other modifications mayoccur to those ordinarily skilled in the art.

1. A toy comprising: an opening portion; a wall portion coupled to theopening portion; an inner chamber adjacent to the wall portion; at leastone object disposed within the inner chamber; and an outer wall portionforming the inner chamber, wherein the wall portion is self-sealing, theinner chamber is expandable, and the outer wall portion is stretchable.2. The toy of claim 1, wherein the at least one object is a bead.
 3. Thetoy of claim 2, wherein the bead is made from expandable polystyrene. 4.The toy of claim 1, wherein the inner chamber expands as air isintroduced through an inflating pin that is forced to pierce through thewall portion to the inner chamber.
 5. The toy of claim 4, wherein whenthe inflating pin is removed from the inner chamber and out of the wallportion, the wall portion self seals and the inner chamber retains theair.
 6. The toy of claim 1, wherein the toy has an original deflatedshape of one of a spider, a dinosaur, a reptile, an insect, a mammal, anamphibian and a fish.
 7. The toy of claim 5, further comprising aplurality of appendages, wherein the plurality of appendages retaintheir original shape when the inner chamber is inflated.
 8. The toy ofclaim 5, wherein when the inner chamber is inflated, deflation of theinner chamber occurs when the inflating pin is reinserted through thewall portion.
 9. The toy of claim 5, wherein the wall portion remainscontinuously self-sealing for a plurality of insertions and removals ofthe inflating pin.
 10. The toy of claim 6, wherein the opening portionis a mouth.
 11. An inflatable toy comprising: a body having an innerchamber; a wall portion having a first side adjacent to the innerchamber and a second side outside of the inner chamber; and at least oneobject disposed within the inner chamber, wherein air introduced intothe inner chamber through a temporary through hole made in the wallportion by a tool is retained when the tool is removed from the wallportion.
 12. The inflatable toy of claim 11, wherein the body isstretchable.
 13. The inflatable toy of claim 11, wherein the at leastone object is a bead.
 14. The inflatable toy of claim 13, wherein thebead is made from expandable polystyrene.
 15. The inflatable toy ofclaim 11, wherein the body has an original deflated shape of one of aspider, a dinosaur, a reptile, an insect, a mammal, an amphibian and afish.
 16. The inflatable toy of claim 11, further comprising a pluralityof appendages coupled to the body, wherein the plurality of appendagesretain their original shape when the inner chamber is inflated.
 17. Theinflatable toy of claim 11, wherein when the inner chamber is inflated,deflation of the inner chamber occurs when the tool is reinsertedthrough the wall portion.
 18. The inflatable toy of claim 11, whereinthe wall portion remains continuously self-sealing for a plurality ofinsertions and removals of the tool.
 19. The inflatable toy of claim 15,wherein the body has a mouth portion coupled to the wall portion. 20.The inflatable toy of claim 11, wherein the tool is one of a hand-pumpwith an inflation pin and a finger press pump.